Hege Riise trusts Ellen White to score goals, and that is just what she did as she gave Team GB the perfect start to Tokyo 2020 with a 2-0 win over Chile in Sapporo.
White is one of four players appearing in her second Games, and nine years on from London, she did what she does best with a goal in each half of a match that GB thoroughly dominated.
By the time she opened the scoring on 18 minutes, poking home the impressive Lauren Hemp’s header back across goal, White had already put the ball in the net once.
That was ruled out for offside, but it proved only a temporary reprieve for the South American side.
And when she added a second with just over quarter of an hour remaining, with a scissor kick following good build-up work by Lucy Bronze, the result was in the bag.
For Riise, it was the perfect way to kick things off in Japan, ahead of a second group game against the hosts on Saturday.
She said: “I think how we started the game was exceptional. The first 30 minutes was the best we’ve played and we kept it going. It wasn’t pretty for the whole game but fought and managed to get the win that we deserved and we wanted.
“We trust Ellen to score goals and she does. But it’s not only the goals, she fights hard, she works for the 90 minutes to get the goals or other players in. She’s important for this team and brings a lot of confidence to the team.
“We have been waiting for this game for a long time and were so eager to get started. You can see the energy on the field. Getting a good start, getting a win, keeping them away from our goal and scoring two goals, that’s a statement for the next games coming up.”
A statement it was, with Hemp and Bronze causing all sorts of problems out wide, while Chile rarely threatened pushing forwards.
And for White, who did not score a goal at London 2012, the overriding emotion was one of pride.
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She added: “I’m obviously delighted to contribute to the team winning, to score two goals. I feel really proud to open the Olympics with Team GB.
“Collectively as a whole squad and staff, we’ve worked tremendously hard up to this moment and I feel proud of the whole squad. It doesn’t stop here for us, we now look forward to facing Japan.
“I feel really delighted with where I am at, at the moment, but I feel that there is more to come. As a squad, I feel we can still grow and get better as the tournament goes on.”